A lot of what we see in the second half of the gospel of Mark is the disciples missing the point. But how we ought to take it for is how much that is how we are. Not that we are screw ups exactly, but that we aren’t know-it-alls, heads of the class, or perfect students. But that we are, indeed, students.

There is a thing we so often do with this faith by calling ourselves Christians, we think we can outgrow the need to learn or grow. That we graduate from Sunday School and are done. And yet, at the same time, that we know nothing, have to keep going to class, and never take initiative. In some parts of the church, we even seem reluctant to use the word disciple to describe ourselves.

Too often, discipleship is treated as something for someone else. And that a life of learning is à la carte, completable, or for others. It is not.